The Gospel Way is to end your doing and fretting by sitting down content with Jesus' doing and dying, satisfied with His Righteousness, and satiated by His Precious Blood. God's way of pardoning sin is that your sins must be laid on Jesus. You can obtain all the merits of His great Atonement of Calvary by a simple act of Faith. What is the Gospel? The preaching of a full, free, present, everlasting pardon to sinners through faith in Jesus' atoning blood. All have sinned, Christ died for sinners, and for all penitents that put all their trust in Christ's finished work, and confess His name, there is a full and free pardon.
In old time, the Jew laid his hand upon the victim which he brought for sacrifice, then the victim was his substitute. Jesus is our Victim, our Substitute, our Lamb of God. By simple faith, lay your guilty hand on the divine Victim. Only Christ's Blood can remove your guilt and cleanse your transgressions. Jesus is not a dead Savior, He is the living God. The Great Redeemer lives and is able to save your soul to the uttermost. He has great Mercy for great sinners. God will only save you as a guilty person who deserves to be damned to Hell.
Good conduct and decent morals can never help save you from the wrath to come. Never trust in human merit, but only on the Lord's mercy. Plead your misery and guilt. Plead Jesus' Blood. Christ died for the ungodly. He justifies the ungodly freely. The unjust He makes just through His Righteousness. Christ Jesus delivers the needy when when he crieth, and the sinner when he has no helper. The tide of self is ebbed out, there is nothing in you to help, no good left in you, and now will Christ come to you. The Holy Spirit kills and makes alive, He wounds and then heals. Cast your soul upon the eternal merits and the finished work of the Great Substitute. Human nature wants to save itself. Give up and let Jesus save you. Trust your sinful soul entirely to the Son of God. A simple belief in the merit of the Lord Jesus wrought in us by the Holy Ghost. We must deny all human merit. The self-righteous man clings to his doings, his feelings, and human merit for dear life.
You must be altogether saved by the merits of Another by the free undeserved favor of God. God will look to the poor in spirit, destitute of all merit, who has no good works, who have nothing to rely upon of their own, this is the man who God will look to. Lie down as a dead sinner at Jesus' pierced feet. Contriteness is when you feel your sins and hate them. There is salvation only in the crucified Redeemer. There is salvation in no other but Jesus. Stand still and receive the salvation of the Lord. Faith is simple trust of confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ. The Good News of a finished salvation that is freely given to lost sinners, a complete forgiveness for the guilty, acceptance of the ungodly, by simply believing in Jesus' Blood and Righteousness.
Christ's merit is transferred to you freely and saves you from the wrath of God. Christ doesn't seek out worthy ones, He seeks blind beggars, with nothing but poverty, with no claim by way of their own righteousness. Trust only what Christ has already finished. Knock at Heaven's gate as for dear life, the knock of a starving beggar who cannot afford to be unheard. Christ for me, the Cross for me, the Blood for me, none but Jesus. Hold to Jesus for dear life. Cleave to the old infallible truths of Scripture for dear life. Take every word of God's Book and hang on to it for dear life. First, rest in Jesus by a simple faith in His finished work, and then treasure His every word, and strive to keep His commands. Fight against your inward sins for dear life. One thing is needful - faith in Christ, be filled with Him. Submit yourself to Christ's Righteousness. *Romans 10:3-4*
Ye must be born again. Receive Jesus and become submissive to Him. There are consequences for your sins - only Christ can pay those consequences for you. Loathe the very thoughts of self-righteousness. You only merit to be driven from the presence of God forever for your sins. The greater matter of concern for anyone of us is the eternal salvation of our soul. We need to be saved and pardoned, according to the scripture of Truth. There is but one way of salvation, but that way doesn't seem to be in favor among the sinful sons of men. The great rule, that is popular all over the world, no matter whether the people are Muslim or Mormon, Catholic or Hindu, Protestant or Buddhist, is self-salvation - they want to attain eternal life by human merit. The great worldly principle of unregenerate man is that he is, somehow or other, to save himself.
Salvation is only by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, by simple faith in Him. The Gospel Way is by divine Mercy, not human merit; by faith, not by works; by grace, not by the efforts of man. I must be saved by the merits of Jesus, I cannot be saved by my own, for I have none. You have sinned, you are guilty and condemned, you need the free mercy of God through Jesus Christ. What think ye of Christ? Is His atoning bloody death necessary for your sins? Have you any sins? Do you have any sins from which you cannot escape by yourself? Have you ever felt the burden of your sins? Are you willing to be saved by Christ on His free terms? Jesus must receive all the glory of your salvation.
You have nothing to do in order to obtain His free salvation. The Gospel is as free as the air you breathe. You do not pay for breathing, you do not pay for sunlight and rain. There is free pardon available now at the Cross for the worst sinners. Jesus will put away your sins and save your soul. A gratis Gospel, a Gospel of grace, which asks nothing of us, but gives all to us. Trust only what Jesus did for you. Trust what Christ has finished long ago. I am saved to the uttermost, and beyond any risk of being lost. There are not two gospels. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved; if you do not believe on Christ, your soul will be lost forever.
An act of faith in Jesus' precious Blood saves the soul; a simple trusting in Him, and your soul is deliver from all sins. Sinful self is evil, but righteous self is even more devilish. Put this down - Self-righteous, superstitious human nature will believe anything but the Bible, and trust anyone but Jesus Christ. Human nature is completely ignorant of God's Righteousness. Christ is guilty sinners only. Man-made religion is mere idolatry and vain pretense. Money and possessions are nothing but dust to a dying man. Don't take anything with you to Christ but your sinfulness. By faith take all your sins to the Cross, and Jesus will wash them away in His Blood instantly and forever.
Sin, misery, guilt, emptiness, aching void, danger, ruin, rags, inability, depravity, vileness, ignorance, worthlessness, despair, despondency, and bankruptcy is the lost sinner's condition. Human effort and ability can only build a house of cards spiritually. Let your misery and wretchedness lead you to Christ for help. I must have Jesus, I cannot live without Christ. You must stoop to be saved entirely by His merits. Do everything by way of gratitude and not by straining for merit. Human nature desires to go to Heaven partly by what it does, and partly by the merits of Christ. God will only forgive you through the merits of His Son.
The Gospel is an expensive business, for the very heart of Christ bled to pay the Ransom price, but it costs the sinner nothing, nothing of merit, nothing of preparation. The wedding garment is freely provided for you. The self-righteous cannot accept anything gratis from God, and be saved by God's free mercy in Christ. Trust in nothing but what Jesus has done for you. Abjure and renounce all confidence in everything but the finished, atoning Cross-work of Jesus Christ. Be ye reconciled to God, come to Christ through faith in His Blood. Is there one good work of your own that you're relying upon? If so, you are still dead in your sins.
The foundation, structure, and capstone of Salvation are all of Grace. Sinful and sad, covered with filthy rags, conscious of guilt and shame, come to the Fountain filled with Blood drawn from Jesus' veins, and be made white as snow within. Christ Jesus is the only Substitute for human sin. He alone suffered the penalty due to the unjust sinner, to the violated law of God. His atoning blood pleads my case. Every sinner deserves nothing but damnation. Our one foundation is Jesus only. Christ is All, or nothing; He must save you from top to bottom, or you shall never be saved at all. If your trust is partly on Christ's finished work, and partly on the sinking sand of your unworthy doings, the whole house totters and it must soon come down.
Do not dispute with your doubts, go straight to the Cross for assurance. Never dispute with the devil, go directly to the Lamb of God. Jesus, I trust you, I trust you wholly, and you alone forever and ever. Today, Jesus is still willing to receive sinners, and He is still able to save sinners. Christ's Precious Blood is all my confidence. Look to Jesus for all your salvation, and then by His help, live meek, lowly, humble, broken-spirited, ready to do anything so Christ will be glorified. In Jesus' service, deflect and ascribe all praise to Him.
